UK Gov Wants International Consensus On File Sharing Response

Patrick Smith

Feb. 25, 2009 - 9:33 AM PDT
Feb. 25, 2009 - 9:33 AM PDT

The UK has yet to come up with a truly effective filesharing response itself, but that isn’t stopping culture secretary Andy Burnham calling for an international framework including the US and European nations by the autumn. Burnham tells Guardian.co.uk: “I am working towards an international memorandum of understanding, it is time for much more serious dialogue with European and US partners. No solely national solution will work. It can only be durable with international consensus.” In the UK, he wants a 70 to 80 percent reduction in online piracy and he’s looking to international partners to help him do it.

His urgency is understandable: the IFPI’s annual Digital Music Report found that 40 billion tracks were illegally obtained last year, accounting for 95 percent of all downloaded music. Burnham is under pressure from the music biz to do something about it, and the shaky agreement between UK ISPs and the government’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform that led to last year’s memorandum of understanding was never meant to be a long-term solution. At the reception, Burnham also said the government was considering increasing the length of music copyright from 50 to 75 years — itself a contentious policy.